For anyone interested, CPAC, the Canadian Public Affairs Channel, takes a look at some of the most influential premiers of Canada beginning Sunday night with Newfoundland and Labrador's Joey Smallwood.
According to the creator, "If you want to understand the politics of a province you need to look back to its past, specifically to its most transformative leader."
The Premiers, a 10-part documentary series beginning Sunday on CPAC, looks at the lives and politics of some of the most prominent provincial leaders in Canadian history.
Over the two-year course of making The Premiers, the creator said "the project morphed into something different -- something beyond political biographies. The documentary evolved into a "reflection of political culture."
". . . What the documentary series tries to do is hold a mirror up to each province and show people there, and people in the rest of the country, why they think and act the way they do politically in those regions," said Doan.
"If you wonder why Danny Williams of Newfoundland seems inflexible on his position of protecting his province's resources just go back and see what happened with Smallwood. If you wonder why Alberta always seems dissatisfied with what's coming to them from the centre, just see what happened to them during the Depression and what happened to (William) Aberhart and you'll start to understand why more Albertans think the way they do."
"The Premiers veers off into territory viewers may not expect. Rather than the usual talking heads of historians and political scientists, it is the family, friends, colleges and those who witnessed history, who share their stories about the famous -- and sometimes infamous -- politicians. Friend or foe, those who knew the leaders well provide unique insight that goes beyond common, documented facts."
"Each of the 10 leaders featured in The Premiers made a historical contribution in shaping this country. Having created such an everlasting impact, how do these past leaders compare with the leaders of today?
"Maybe they were still pioneering in those days, but they were really strong . . . and there's not one among them whose strengths compares with the leaders of today," said Doan, pausing briefly to consider the roster of current provincial leaders, "Except maybe Danny Williams."
The first episode about Joey Smallwood, if not all the episodes, might make for some interesting viewing. If for nothing else than to provide some insight into the creator's perspective about this place we all love, Newfoundland and Labrbrador.
Myles - Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteI doubt that I have the strength to listen to Joey Smallwood all over again embellishing the country which, he along with his cohorts, threw us headlong into.
The lies that we were told by Canada through their mouthpiece Premier Smallwood, that we were joining the greatest country in the World and that we would have equality, and that Ottawa would be giving our people FREE Family Allowance and Old Age Pension , ETC, and that it would cost us nothing makes me nauseous. We gave up everything we had for those few little crumbs.
We have found out since that time the monies under those programs cost us dearly. It cost us our complete natural resource endowment, one of the largest endowments of natural resources that any province of Canada possess.
We have seen NO economic input here on behalf of Canada, but instead we have had our natural resources shipped out of here to the other provinces so that they could grow economies, we had no friend in Ottawa when we wanted to wheel our Hydroelectric energy across a corridor in Quebec, when all the other provinces had the right to wheel power across their neighbouring province, we saw our railway taken away, a cattle boat plying the Gulf of St. Lawrence to ferry our people to jobs markets in the rest of Canada to work their resources and nothing but degradation and slurs from the Canadian Federation.
I am sick to death of some of the comments that I have heard over the years from the other provinces and I am not about ready to take another word of derision from them. What we have had to face borders on racism, but it apparently cannot be defined as that.
Neither am I about to listen to the show on Joey Smallwood where, no doubt, he keeps lavishing praise on the Ottawa Government and the country of Canada, while never once mentioning the fact that his province and my province was laden with the best Natural Resource cache in Canada and a number one strategic geographic location as well.
Combined, a well endowed natural resource base and great location, situated half way between Europe and the heart of North America, which the province of Newfoundland and Labrador was blessed with, and situated on the North Atlantic Trade routes could have blossomed into nothing but big things. With the right management, those attributes could have turned the province of Newfoundland and Labrador into a country which could have been part of the G7, G8, G9 countries. Also, it was at a time, mid 20th century, when the World economies were all poised to take off economically. After all it was just after the Second World War, Japan and Germany had been obliterated during the War and then raised from the ashes through the $6 Billion Marshall Plan instituted by the United States. Both of these countries were depleted of their Natural Resources base before the War and as in the case of Japan it was isolated and yet they became part of the G7 which went on to be the G9, I do believe.
What a mistake it was that Joey Smallwood dragged us into Confederation. I know he was cajoled into it by subjects in Canada, since at that time they had already dreamt of our fair land for 80 years that is according to Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent in his speech to the Nation in 1949. I think Premier Smallwood might have put too much faith into what Ottawa told them, and might have been hoodwinked just into thinking that what he was being told was the truth, he probably was a victim as well.
I doubt very much that I will muster the courage to listen to it. Why would I want to make myself heart and stomach sick?
ARCHIVED SPEECH OF PRIME MINSTER LOUIS ST. LAURENT: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/primeministers/h4-4038-e.html
My understanding is the series is very frank and unbiased, interviewing friends and foes.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see how they portray the great Benedict "Joey" Arnold himself.
From what I've heard and read of previews no mention of the conflict of interest and duress on the Upper Churchill contract.
ReplyDeleteI guess the creators and friends and family haven't read the Origins of an impending crisis study on the MOU's leading up to the final rip off.
Message for Anonymous: If you hate Canada so much, then leave.
ReplyDeleteWinston Smith - That sounds so easy, doesn't it? Ottawa has the province of Newfoundland and Labrador's natural resource base so entrenched in the Canadian economic fabric, that we will probably never be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, with regard to extracting those resources to run industry here!
ReplyDeleteOttawa ran this province into the ground by not assuring that which was possible for the other provinces, like wheeling their Energy, Gas and Oil over their neighbouring provinces borders, they could not assure the same thing for our province with the Upper Churchill Hydro Electric Energy. Ottawa placed very little of its coveted Crown Corporations and Military bases in the province, federal infrastructure which has helped buoy up the other province economies over the years.
I hope you will make the connection in the analogy here that I am about to speak of, as to how the U.S. has the World economies tied up because of it massive debt, and you might be able to look at what I said above about the province of Newfoundland and Labrador as it relates to Ottawa, Canada and come to the same conclusion.
I recently visited the United States and, I astounded by the elaborate infrastructure that exists there in Transportation and every other type of infrastructure possible.
Just last month I watched CBC's Passionate Eye Documentary on IO USA and an estimate of what the United States owes the World came out in the accounting, the Documentary said that the United States owes $53 Trillion dollars. They owe $250 Billion to China and I am sure there are many other countries which they must owe to as well.
Now since the USA is beholden to the World Savers, then if those people are ever to get any of those savings back they will have to hope that the United States will emerge out of this financial crisis, which it finds itself into, as well as having dragged the rest of the world with it and they, of course, will have to stick with it through thick or thin, just as the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will have to stick with Canada, since we are embedded in it economic fabric..
There have been many Empires over the centuries which have risen and fallen, but I don't think any of them were beholden to the World the way that the United States Empire has been over the past Century, and, of course, so was the World beholden to the United States Military Might to protect them . I would imagine, that if and when, the World's economy turns around again, it will be the United States turn AGAIN to run the World Empire, since most of us are waiting for it to return to good health to get our monies back.
The United States was very cute, it bulked up on infrastructure of all types, of course which comprises part of the $53 Trillion dollar debt, including millions of homes and condominium complexes which are setting empty, so when things look like they are turning around they will just, I guess, have to ratchet up Immigration, people who will then act as buyers for the millions of homes and workers for their manufacturing centers. Everything is in place for the new Empire to begin.
Winston Smith said...
ReplyDeleteMessage for Anonymous: If you hate Canada so much, then leave.
February 28, 2009 7:53 AM,
YUP, I took your advise years ago Mr Smith.Coming from Newfoundland and being a "DISPLACED PERSON" I would rather live away from my home country of Newfoundland and Labrador (in freedom I might add) then being forced to live as a second class citizen.
Free your Mind Mr Smith and your ass will follow.Good luck with "Life's Lessons"
" Republic Of "
http://orwellianspin.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteNow this is something to behold.
If your rattling the cages of this countrys confederation by simply telling the truth.
I say Newfoundland and Labrador should proceed to the International World Courts with its concerns over this countrys constitutional problems.
OH and in regards to Mr Williams supporting separtisam. I believe he said last week directly to rayan cleary on VOCM " that Rayan, my goverment is not about separation and I DON'T SUPPORT IT"
The machine that is the "FEDERAL GOVERNMENT" is a machine full of liars.OH scarey to think that Canada has fallen to such a Low Level of basic human respect.Personally, I thought that we were a little more mature here.
Sad to see the level of proffesionalisam slipping here at Web Talk, Patriot.
Its nice to see WJM has a new face and ISP.
Wally even Norton Can't Save you !!!
Hello Ussr,
ReplyDeleteThe Premiers Series is set to be broadcast on our channel as well as our website on Sundays, starting March 1st, at 9:00 PM Eastern time, for 10 consecutive weeks.
Our web address is www.cpac.ca – streaming is done on our home page – please double click on the image to get a larger viewing screen.
Also, please note that the program will be made available via video-on-demand on our website the following day (Monday) after the initial broadcast – you will find this option on the right hand side of our home page.
In Ontario, CPAC is available on these channel numbers:
Rogers Cable Analogue Service: channel 97 and 104
Rogers Cable Digital Service: Channel 104 and 198 (English) and channel 671 (French)
Bell English: 512
Bell French: 149
Star Choice: 396
Hope this information helps and I thank you for your interest in our channel and our programming.
Lucie
USSR - I see his opinion is well respected at the home of our daily paper, and he is hoping that the downgraded Editor/Columnist will still write columns pro Federal Government.
ReplyDeleteThe teleagram is a "Pro Quebec Pro Canada "RAG"
ReplyDeleteToo bad we lost The Independent Newspaper.We lost a true voice for Newfoundland and Labrador.Not like this "RAG".
http://www.thetelegram.com
A nest of liars and thieves !!!
If 60 years of having the National Media skew things weren't enough, but then to have your daily local newspaper do the same thing, it was nothing short of (you chose the word)!
ReplyDeleteWith things kept so opaque by Government politicians and bureaucrats, the National and the Local Medias, it would have taken a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out that the province of Newfoundland and Labrador had entered Canada with a mother lode of natural resources and a location that could have been very very conducive to assisting the province in becoming one of the number one manufacturing centers of the World, but, of course, we know it didn’t turnout to be the case. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural resource base had been coveted by the other provinces long before it entered Canada and that is why our province's natural resources ended up creating wonderful economic conditions everywhere else but right in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Can you now understand why Canadians thought for 60 years that we were a bunch of takers with absolutely nothing to give?
Can you now see how we, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, for 60 years came to be royally shafted? I hope so!
Just when it appeared that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians had the right person on the scene, Premier Williams, who is a very capable and an astute Premier ready, willing and capable to take on the abuses of the past 60 years, the Ottawa government, it the Ottawa Government had Plan B in place.
ReplyDeleteOttawa saw to it that our Premier would have to face a up-hill struggle to get his story out there. The Ottawa, government through its mouth piece the National Media. In the case of our own province, it found and ally in the local daily Central Canada oriented newspaper, and it ratcheted up its opposition, through its mouth pieces here in our own province through that newspaper’s blog section.
The bloggers who have utilized the local newspaper call themselves Consultants, nobody knows to whom they are acting as Consultants, and I am surmising that they are paid by Ottawa Government to do the dirty work for them. Those so-called Consultants certainly found a convenient niche through writing commentaries to the in-house blogger's site at the local daily newspaper. One of them even ran for a seat on the ruling Ottawa government's side in the October 14th, 2008 election but was defeated heavily.
The Ottawa government knew the day would come when the people of Newfoundland and Labrador would become aware that their province had been well endowed with a mother lode of natural resources and a great location to boot and would ask the pertinent question. What happened, why didn’t our province, Newfoundland and Labrador, become one of the greatest economic generators in Canada?
Ottawa had the ammunition in place that being Plan B, the National and Local Press, as far as I am concerned it created the Consultancy Syndrome, the Opposition Blogger and that is my theory; and they were ready and rearing to go once the people of Newfoundland and Labrador awoke from their 60 year sleep.
They have been bombarding Premier Williams ever since on his attempts to get the truth out there on what the province of Newfoundland and Labrador had to give up to Canada over the past 60 years and his resolve that there will be no more give-aways to keep the other provinces’ economies percolating while his province lies in economic devastation.
The truth will prevail Premier Williams! Those weasels, all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, who are doing the dirty work at our own local daily paper will someday have to face the piper for their contributions, but I doubt for a moment that they will have to worry financially about where their next dollar will come from, since they will be looked after through the Political Patronage Plum Toolkit.
Matter of fact, I would say the Consultancy fees comes from that fund already, I don`t know do you? If Ottawa is the employer, I guess the payment is coming from the same Toolkit for the those performing the same role in the National Media commentary section?
I am asking the question here, who is paying these people to do the dirty work, personally I cannot think of anyone who would have such a interest in having such harm inflicted on our Premier, other than the Federal Government? After all Ottawa would want to see the status quo economy to keep percolating from the natural resource base of Newfoundland and Labrador, the same resources which kept those economies percolating for 60 years.
Ask the boys in Hamilton Ontario if they like having Newfoundland and Labrador in Confederation.
ReplyDeleteThey know where thier jobs come from ( 2009 1:29 AM ) B'ye !!!
" Republic Of"
I think it is time for The Telegram to disassociate itself from the Consultancy clique, which has been quite active on its electronic in-house blogging system in the past.
ReplyDeleteAlso the Telegram should take a comprehensive look at the way which it has conducted its writings over the past, and ask itself a few questions on whether it was toeing the line for Ottawa or for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and its people, the same people who, if I am not mistaken, it depends on to keep itself in business. Or am I wrong there, is that Newspaper really depending on its paying readers or is it instead depending on Federal Government Advertisements dollars? I know the Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador patronizes that newspapers' Ad Department as well, but it can't be depending on Provincial Government Ads, since its orientation, in my opinion, is towards the Feds?
Why has the Telegram not been working towards creating a vibrant economy in the province where it operates its business model, and why has it been so easy on Federal Government policies and its treatment of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and its people?
All of our senses need to be disabled, also including that of The Telegram, for us not to have noticed that the province of Newfoundland and Labrador's great natural resource base has contributed to the whole of Canada substantially, while it suffered anaemically itself from a lack of economic infrastructure, either created from its natural resource base or from the assistance of the Federal Government?
Personally Anon 2:02, I would prefer that all newspapers be unbiased in their reporting. Neither supporting the federal government or the NL government.
ReplyDeleteWe see it all too often right across the Country and here at home.
The National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star and on and on.
It's gotten to the point where news pundits themselves have no problem labeling their own news agencies as left wing, right wing, conservative or liberal.
How shameful is that?
Whatever happened to unbiased news agencies? I guess they went the way of the dodo once publishers and broadcasters figured out that supporting one view or another could increase their profit margins and help ensure access for their reporters to the "right" people.
So much for the regular guy getting any real unbiased reporting in the mainstream media so they can actually know what's going on.
Patriot: I absolutely agree with your statements.
ReplyDeleteWhat every Canadian and probably every citizen of the World is observing at the moment is that Governments, Banks, National News Media, Industry, etc., etc., have all become corrupted, it is, indeed, very frightening times which we are living in.
All the corruption which has taken place under the sectors named above has brought the entire system to its knees and nobody knows how to repair it.
They cannot get the genie back in the bottle no matter how many dollars are printed out of thin air by the the Federal Reserve Bank of the U.S. and the Central banks of the different countries of World in an attempt to fix it. Humpty Dumpty, it appears, cannot be put back together again.
With all the corruption spiralling around us in Canada, is there any chance that the province Newfoundland and Labrador will be able to move beyond the economic borders which have contained it for 60 years? Or will the province have to wait and see if the Federal Government, under a different Prime Minister, will bring in legislation to introduce honesty to all the sectors which govern our society?
If the Federal Government gets back to ensuring that honesty must prevail, maybe, then our situation in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will be looked into and then things might change for us, until then I do not have much hope.
But for that to happen, we must stay focused and demand, as we are doing now, that change must be forthcoming for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador to gain equal status, economically and in every other way, in the Federation of Canada.
We must keep our eye on the ball.
To Winston - Your comment was denied because it was pretty heavy in naming individuals specifically.
ReplyDeleteIyou would like to resubmit your comment without the names I'll be happy to post it.